Mark Kaboly podcasts

The Elizabeth Forward softball coach is a big fan of Myrtle Beach, S.C., as well, and Friday's Section 3-AAA opener against West Mifflin is the reason why.

Elizabeth Forward spent last week at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex playing three games and practicing as much as they wanted while West Mifflin was battling sub-zero temperatures back home.

So, when the two teams who shared the section title a year ago met at William Penn Field on Friday, Elizabeth Forward looked in midseason form.

The Warriors banged out nine hits off reigning Daily News Player of the Year Paige Flore and cruised to a 6-2 win over West Mifflin. It was the fourth consecutive time EF has beat the Titans.

“When we went to Florida, we practiced in three time slots, played three varsity games and four junior varsity games and that gave us a lot of reps,” Rutherford said. “It was definitely beneficial for us, and you saw today.”

It was the second straight year that EF (3-2, 1-0) went south at the beginning of the season (Myrtle Beach last year) and the second consecutive year the Warriors opened section play beating West Mifflin (3-1, 1-1).

“It is always great to come out of the shoot with a win,” Rutherford said. “We have targets on our backs, as well as West Mifflin, being that we were co-champs from last year. Everybody is going to want to take the champs down. When you put that first win up against a team like West Mifflin, people are going to start feeling you are as good as last year.”

Elizabeth Forward got a strong performance from sophomore Sarah Turek, who pitched seven innings while scattering six hits and striking out four.

Turek was backed by a two-run double by Caitlyn Arico, an RBI double by Emily Jacko and two hits by Lexi Ribarchak.

West Mifflin's Alyssa Cairns hit two doubles and scored twice.

“We were sloppy,” West Mifflin coach Casey Phillips said. “We didn't play our best in all phases of the game. We had breakdowns, and you can't have that against a good team like EF. We had some mental errors that won't show up in a scorebook.”

The game was scoreless into the second when Flore ran into control problems with two outs. After Ribarchak singled, Flore walked Lauren Cain to put runners at first and second. It appeared West Mifflin would get out of the inning unscathed when Ribarchak was thrown out trying to steal third. “They are walking off the field and I came in and asked the umpire wasn't that ball four?” Rutherford said.

It was, thus sending West Mifflin back on the field. Flore walked Courtney Hrabosky to give EF a 1-0 lead.

“They only got one so I don't think it hurt that much,” Phillips said. “I don't know if we panicked a little bit after that. We made a mistake after that and you have to have a short memory after something goes wrong and we didn't.”

A throwing error in the third after back-to-back hits by McKenna Kern and Jessica Cartia pushed the lead to 3-0.

It was more than enough offense for the left-handed Turek.

“You don't see lefties a lot,” Phillips said. “I don't think it was that. I think it was more our pitch selection was not where it needed to be. It is different but it didn't make a difference. We are a resilient bunch. Hopefully we can put this behind us quickly.”

TribLive commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments  either by the same reader or different readers.

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Print Source

Welcome to PrintSource, a division of Trib Total Media.

We have established a veteran team that provides daily and weekly newspaper companies with a comprehensive set of services that include design, print, packaging and delivery of their products, all from one source and location.

Gone are the days when each facet of newspaper printing and delivery had to be outsourced to different companies and venues. Now, PrintSource provides a viable solution with just one phone call.

Digital Sales

We offer a wide variety of traditional and new digital advertising options customized to fit your needs!

Whether you're just starting out, or you've been a keystone in the community for years, our knowledgeable staff can provide you with a customized package including online banners/advertisements, Social Media Marketing (Facebook / Twitter), Website development, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing solutions and much more!

Contact your local sales rep today for details, personalized proposal and a meeting to discuss how we can meet your needs.